B.C. community to lose school, has mixed feelings about Olympics

Randy Dudka takes the Olympic torch past the monument marking the last spike in the Canadian Pacific Railway at Craigellachie on Wednesday.

Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider
, PNG

CRAIGELLACHIE — Amid the hoopla and razzmatazz of the Olympic torch relay, a group of parents who huddled in the cold in the early morning hours Wednesday quietly expressed strong reservations about the extravagance of the 2010 Olympic Games when their local school is slated to be shut down.

“This has definitely tainted views of the Olympics,” said Sharon Gibb, president of the parent advisory committee at the elementary school in nearby Malakwa while waiting for the torch to arrive on an antique refurbished CPR train at this historic location. “Some people are very annoyed they are spending a lot of money on the Olympics.”

Gibb said the government wants to shut down the school because it has only 42 students. The ministry of education estimates that number will drop to 30 next year but the parent group thinks there will be more than that with people moving into the area.

The ministry's other concern with the school is that grades 4, 5, 6 and 7 are all lumped into one class but Gibb said because it has a number of special education assistants, the students get much more one-on-one attention than they would get in a bigger school.

Last year, there were attempts to move the Grade 7s to a larger school but the ministry backed down after the students said they would opt to be home-schooled rather than moving.

Gibb said the community has mixed feelings over the Olympics, with some questioning the Games because of the school's scheduled closing and others feeling that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Canada and B.C.

Standing near the little red railway station here, surrounded by snow-covered trees that looked as though they had been dusted with icing sugar, she admitted the arrival of the torch has generated some excitement. “Last night, the torch went by our school. The kids were so excited. They are okay with the Olympics but they are worried about the school closing.”

A community meeting is scheduled for Feb. 16 to rally support and demonstrate the value of keeping it open.

“Our school is the heart and soul of Malakwa,” she said, adding that it is very family-oriented and draws a big crowd for events like Christmas concerts.

If the school closing goes ahead, the students will be bused to Sicamous which is 15 minutes away. “Our kids are going to be on the highway when road conditions are bad so there is concern about that.”

The youngsters would be sharing a bus with the local high school students who go to Sicamous. Parents aren't keen on that either.

Pointing out that their kids make the honour roll and the principal's list when they get to high school, she said parents are happy with the quality of education in the little school. Many have gone on to have successful careers as lawyers, doctors and journalists.

Aaron Willey, who along with his wife Tara and sons Owen, 6, and Hayden, 13, were the first to arrive at the picturesque setting, said having the Olympic Games in B.C. is an honour but “with the economic downturn, it's kind of poor timing.”

With her two young children cuddling near her, Angie Vandenberg said she has walked past the school many times with them. Now that they are on the verge of attending, it might be shutting down. “It would really be devastating. I can now walk my kids to school.”

There were also many in the crowd of about 100 who were enthused by the arrival of the torch and the coming Winter Games.

At the moment when you could hear the train's whistle in the distance, it was hard not to be.

Then with a screech, its red nose rattled into view.

Both the location and the two men, one a longtime railway worker and the other the company's top gun, chosen to carry the torch for the occasion couldn't have been more apt.

This is the place where the last spike on the CPR was driven into the ground Nov. 2, 1885. Finally, the 3,000-mile ribbon of steel stitching Canada together from sea to sea was completed.

At the back of the train, the torch burned brightly in a cauldron as it travelled here from Revelstoke.

Randy Dudka of Cranbrook had the honour of carrying it off the train and doing a loop with it around the railway siding.

A diesel mechanic with the railway for 33 years, he said the journey was spectacular. “I was just so happy to have my family with me.” He had his wife, daughter and granddaughter on board.

He then passed the flame to Fred Green, who is the 16th president of CP, as the company is now called. After doing a similar loop, he relit the cauldron so the torch could continue its journey down to Canoe where it was being picked up by torch runners.

He said the experience was a very unique one, but that he had to rush back to Calgary. “I've got my year-end results to get in tomorrow morning.”

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